OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Relational Databases and Bell's Theorem
Venue: arXiv cs.LO 2013
Year: 2013

Our aim in this paper is to point out a surprising formal connection, between two topics which seem on face value to have nothing to do with each other: relational database theory, and the study of non-locality and contextuality in the foundations of quantum mechanics. We shall show that there is a remarkably direct correspondence between central results such as Bell's theorem in the foundations of quantum mechanics, and questions which arise naturally and have been well-studied in relational database theory.
Efficiency-Risk Tradeoffs in Dynamic Oligopoly Markets - with application to electricity markets
Venue: arXiv cs.SY 2013
Year: 2013

In this paper, we examine in an abstract framework, how a tradeoff between efficiency and robustness arises in different dynamic oligopolistic market architectures. We consider a market in which there is a monopolistic resource provider and agents that enter and exit the market following a random process. Self-interested and fully rational agents dynamically update their resource consumption decisions over a finite time horizon, under the constraint that the total resource consumption requirements are met before each individual's deadline. We then compare the statistics of the stationary aggregate demand processes induced by the non-cooperative and cooperative load scheduling schemes. We show that although the non-cooperative load scheduling scheme leads to an efficiency loss - widely known as the "price of anarchy" - the stationary distribution of the corresponding aggregate demand process has a smaller tail. This tail, which corresponds to rare and undesirable demand spikes, is important in many applications of interest. On the other hand, when the agents can cooperate with each other in optimizing their total cost, a higher market efficiency is achieved at the cost of a higher probability of demand spikes. We thus posit that the origins of endogenous risk in such systems may lie in the market architecture, which is an inherent characteristic of the system.
A strong direct product theorem in terms of the smooth rectangle bound
Venue: arXiv cs.CC 2013
Year: 2013

A strong direct product theorem states that, in order to solve k instances of a problem, if we provide less than k times the resource required to compute one instance, then the probability of overall success is exponentially small in k. In this paper, we consider the model of two-way public-coin communication complexity and show a strong direct product theorem for all relations in terms of the smooth rectangle bound, introduced by Jain and Klauck as a generic lower bound method in this model. Our result therefore uniformly implies a strong direct product theorem for all relations for which an (asymptotically) optimal lower bound can be provided using the smooth rectangle bound, for example Inner Product, Greater-Than, Set-Disjointness, Gap-Hamming Distance etc. Our result also implies near optimal direct product results for several important functions and relations used to show exponential separations between classical and quantum communication complexity, for which near optimal lower bounds are provided using the rectangle bound, for example by Raz [1999], Gavinsky [2008] and Klartag and Regev [2011]. In fact we are not aware of any relation for which it is known that the smooth rectangle bound does not provide an optimal lower bound. This lower bound subsumes many of the other lower bound methods, for example the rectangle bound (a.k.a the corruption bound), the smooth discrepancy bound (a.k.a the γ_2 bound) which in turn subsumes the discrepancy bound, the subdistribution bound and the conditional min-entropy bound. We show our result using information theoretic arguments. A key tool we use is a sampling protocol due to Braverman [2012], in fact a modification of it used by Kerenidis, Laplante, Lerays, Roland and Xiao [2012].
When is Metric Temporal Logic Expressively Complete?
Venue: arXiv cs.LO 2013
Year: 2013

A seminal result of Kamp is that over the reals Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) has the same expressive power as first-order logic with binary order relation < and monadic predicates. A key question is whether there exists an analogue of Kamp's theorem for Metric Temporal Logic (MTL) -- a generalization of LTL in which the Until and Since modalities are annotated with intervals that express metric constraints. Hirshfeld and Rabinovich gave a negative answer, showing that first-order logic with binary order relation < and unary function +1 is strictly more expressive than MTL with integer constants. However, a recent result of Hunter, Ouaknine and Worrell shows that with rational timing constants, MTL has the same expressive power as first-order logic, giving a positive answer. In this paper we generalize these results by giving a precise characterization of those sets of constants for which MTL and first-order logic have the same expressive power. We also show that full first-order expressiveness can be recovered with the addition of counting modalities, strongly supporting the assertion of Hirshfeld and Rabinovich that Q2MLO is one of the most expressive decidable fragments of FO(<,+1).
The Sample Complexity of Search over Multiple Populations
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2013
Year: 2013

This paper studies the sample complexity of searching over multiple populations. We consider a large number of populations, each corresponding to either distribution P0 or P1. The goal of the search problem studied here is to find one population corresponding to distribution P1 with as few samples as possible. The main contribution is to quantify the number of samples needed to correctly find one such population. We consider two general approaches: non-adaptive sampling methods, which sample each population a predetermined number of times until a population following P1 is found, and adaptive sampling methods, which employ sequential sampling schemes for each population. We first derive a lower bound on the number of samples required by any sampling scheme. We then consider an adaptive procedure consisting of a series of sequential probability ratio tests, and show it comes within a constant factor of the lower bound. We give explicit expressions for this constant when samples of the populations follow Gaussian and Bernoulli distributions. An alternative adaptive scheme is discussed which does not require full knowledge of P1, and comes within a constant factor of the optimal scheme. For comparison, a lower bound on the sampling requirements of any non-adaptive scheme is presented.
Securing Your Transactions: Detecting Anomalous Patterns In XML Documents
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2013
Year: 2013

XML transactions are used in many information systems to store data and interact with other systems. Abnormal transactions, the result of either an on-going cyber attack or the actions of a benign user, can potentially harm the interacting systems and therefore they are regarded as a threat. In this paper we address the problem of anomaly detection and localization in XML transactions using machine learning techniques. We present a new XML anomaly detection framework, XML-AD. Within this framework, an automatic method for extracting features from XML transactions was developed as well as a practical method for transforming XML features into vectors of fixed dimensionality. With these two methods in place, the XML-AD framework makes it possible to utilize general learning algorithms for anomaly detection. Central to the functioning of the framework is a novel multi-univariate anomaly detection algorithm, ADIFA. The framework was evaluated on four XML transactions datasets, captured from real information systems, in which it achieved over 89% true positive detection rate with less than a 0.2% false positive rate.
A Markov Decision Model for Adaptive Scheduling of Stored Scalable Videos
Venue: arXiv cs.MM 2013
Year: 2013

We propose two scheduling algorithms that seek to optimize the quality of scalably coded videos that have been stored at a video server before transmission.} The first scheduling algorithm is derived from a Markov Decision Process (MDP) formulation developed here. We model the dynamics of the channel as a Markov chain and reduce the problem of dynamic video scheduling to a tractable Markov decision problem over a finite state space. Based on the MDP formulation, a near-optimal scheduling policy is computed that minimize the mean square error. Using insights taken from the development of the optimal MDP-based scheduling policy, the second proposed scheduling algorithm is an online scheduling method that only requires easily measurable knowledge of the channel dynamics, and is thus viable in practice. Simulation results show that the performance of both scheduling algorithms is close to a performance upper bound also derived in this paper.
Quasi-cyclic Flexible Regenerating Codes
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2013
Year: 2013

In a distributed storage environment, where the data is placed in nodes connected through a network, it is likely that one of these nodes fails. It is known that the use of erasure coding improves the fault tolerance and minimizes the redundancy added in distributed storage environments. The use of regenerating codes not only make the most of the erasure coding improvements, but also minimizes the amount of data needed to regenerate a failed node. In this paper, a new family of regenerating codes based on quasi-cyclic codes is presented. Quasi-cyclic flexible minimum storage regenerating (QCFMSR) codes are constructed and their existence is proved. Quasi-cyclic flexible regenerating codes with minimum bandwidth constructed from a base QCFMSR code are also provided. These codes not only achieve optimal MBR parameters in terms of stored data and repair bandwidth, but also for an specific choice of the parameters involved, they can be decreased under the optimal MBR point. Quasi-cyclic flexible regenerating codes are very interesting because of their simplicity and low complexity. They allow exact repair-by-transfer in the minimum bandwidth case and an exact pseudo repair-by-transfer in the MSR case, where operations are needed only when a new node enters into the system replacing a lost one.
Multi-Level Modeling of Quotation Families Morphogenesis
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2013
Year: 2013

This paper investigates cultural dynamics in social media by examining the proliferation and diversification of clearly-cut pieces of content: quoted texts. In line with the pioneering work of Leskovec et al. and Simmons et al. on memes dynamics we investigate in deep the transformations that quotations published online undergo during their diffusion. We deliberately put aside the structure of the social network as well as the dynamical patterns pertaining to the diffusion process to focus on the way quotations are changed, how often they are modified and how these changes shape more or less diverse families and sub-families of quotations. Following a biological metaphor, we try to understand in which way mutations can transform quotations at different scales and how mutation rates depend on various properties of the quotations.
Kick synchronization versus diffusive synchronization
Venue: arXiv cs.SY 2013
Year: 2013

The paper provides an introductory discussion about two fundamental models of oscillator synchronization: the (continuous-time) diffusive model, that dominates the mathematical literature on synchronization, and the (hybrid) kick model, that accounts for most popular examples of synchronization, but for which only few theoretical results exist. The paper stresses fundamental differences between the two models, such as the different contraction measures underlying the analysis, as well as important analogies that can be drawn in the limit of weak coupling.
Interaction and observation: categorical semantics of reactive systems trough dialgebras
Venue: arXiv cs.LO 2013
Year: 2013

We use dialgebras, generalising both algebras and coalgebras, as a complement of the standard coalgebraic framework, aimed at describing the semantics of an interactive system by the means of reaction rules. In this model, interaction is built-in, and semantic equivalence arises from it, instead of being determined by a (possibly difficult) understanding of the side effects of a component in isolation. Behavioural equivalence in dialgebras is determined by how a given process interacts with the others, and the obtained observations. We develop a technique to inter-define categories of dialgebras of different functors, that in particular permits us to compare a standard coalgebraic semantics and its dialgebraic counterpart. We exemplify the framework using the CCS and the pi-calculus. Remarkably, the dialgebra giving semantics to the pi-calculus does not require the use of presheaf categories.
Towards structured sharing of raw and derived neuroimaging data across existing resources
Venue: arXiv cs.DB 2013
Year: 2013

Data sharing efforts increasingly contribute to the acceleration of scientific discovery. Neuroimaging data is accumulating in distributed domain-specific databases and there is currently no integrated access mechanism nor an accepted format for the critically important meta-data that is necessary for making use of the combined, available neuroimaging data. In this manuscript, we present work from the Derived Data Working Group, an open-access group sponsored by the Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN) and the International Neuroimaging Coordinating Facility (INCF) focused on practical tools for distributed access to neuroimaging data. The working group develops models and tools facilitating the structured interchange of neuroimaging meta-data and is making progress towards a unified set of tools for such data and meta-data exchange. We report on the key components required for integrated access to raw and derived neuroimaging data as well as associated meta-data and provenance across neuroimaging resources. The components include (1) a structured terminology that provides semantic context to data, (2) a formal data model for neuroimaging with robust tracking of data provenance, (3) a web service-based application programming interface (API) that provides a consistent mechanism to access and query the data model, and (4) a provenance library that can be used for the extraction of provenance data by image analysts and imaging software developers. We believe that the framework and set of tools outlined in this manuscript have great potential for solving many of the issues the neuroimaging community faces when sharing raw and derived neuroimaging data across the various existing database systems for the purpose of accelerating scientific discovery.
Parity Declustering for Fault-Tolerant Storage Systems via $t$-designs
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2013
Year: 2013

Parity declustering allows faster reconstruction of a disk array when some disk fails. Moreover, it guarantees uniform reconstruction workload on all surviving disks. It has been shown that parity declustering for one-failure tolerant array codes can be obtained via Balanced Incomplete Block Designs. We extend this technique for array codes that can tolerate an arbitrary number of disk failures via $t$-designs.
Data for Development: the D4D Challenge on Mobile Phone Data
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2013
Year: 2013

The Orange "Data for Development" (D4D) challenge is an open data challenge on anonymous call patterns of Orange's mobile phone users in Ivory Coast. The goal of the challenge is to help address society development questions in novel ways by contributing to the socio-economic development and well-being of the Ivory Coast population. Participants to the challenge are given access to four mobile phone datasets and the purpose of this paper is to describe the four datasets. The website http://www.d4d.orange.com contains more information about the participation rules. The datasets are based on anonymized Call Detail Records (CDR) of phone calls and SMS exchanges between five million of Orange's customers in Ivory Coast between December 1, 2011 and April 28, 2012. The datasets are: (a) antenna-to-antenna traffic on an hourly basis, (b) individual trajectories for 50,000 customers for two week time windows with antenna location information, (3) individual trajectories for 500,000 customers over the entire observation period with sub-prefecture location information, and (4) a sample of communication graphs for 5,000 customers
External memory bisimulation reduction of big graphs
Venue: arXiv cs.DB 2013
Year: 2013

In this paper, we present, to our knowledge, the first known I/O efficient solutions for computing the k-bisimulation partition of a massive directed graph, and performing maintenance of such a partition upon updates to the underlying graph. Ubiquitous in the theory and application of graph data, bisimulation is a robust notion of node equivalence which intuitively groups together nodes in a graph which share fundamental structural features. k-bisimulation is the standard variant of bisimulation where the topological features of nodes are only considered within a local neighborhood of radius $k\geqslant 0$. The I/O cost of our partition construction algorithm is bounded by $O(k\cdot \mathit{sort}(|\et|) + k\cdot scan(|\nt|) + \mathit{sort}(|\nt|))$, while our maintenance algorithms are bounded by $O(k\cdot \mathit{sort}(|\et|) + k\cdot \mathit{sort}(|\nt|))$. The space complexity bounds are $O(|\nt|+|\et|)$ and $O(k\cdot|\nt|+k\cdot|\et|)$, resp. Here, $|\et|$ and $|\nt|$ are the number of disk pages occupied by the input graph's edge set and node set, resp., and $\mathit{sort}(n)$ and $\mathit{scan}(n)$ are the cost of sorting and scanning, resp., a file occupying $n$ pages in external memory. Empirical analysis on a variety of massive real-world and synthetic graph datasets shows that our algorithms perform efficiently in practice, scaling gracefully as graphs grow in size.
Insensitivity of User Distribution in Multicell Networks under General Mobility and Session Patterns
Venue: arXiv cs.NI 2013
Year: 2013

The location of active users is an important factor in the performance analysis of mobile multicell networks, but it is difficult to quantify due to the wide variety of user mobility and session patterns. In particular, the channel holding times in each cell may be arbitrarily distributed and dependent on those in other cells. In this work, we study the stationary distribution of users by modeling the system as a multi-route queueing network with Poisson inputs. We consider arbitrary routing and arbitrary joint probability distributions for the channel holding times in each route. Using a decomposition-composition approach, we show that the user distribution (1) is insensitive to the user movement patterns, (2) is insensitive to general and dependently distributed channel holding times, (3) depends only on the average arrival rate and average channel holding time at each cell, and (4) is completely characterized by an open network with M/M/infinity queues. This result is validated by experiments with the Dartmouth user mobility traces.
Everlasting Secrecy by Exploiting Non-Idealities of the Eavesdropper's Receiver
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2013
Year: 2013

Secure communication over a memoryless wiretap channel in the presence of a passive eavesdropper is considered. Traditional information-theoretic security methods require an advantage for the main channel over the eavesdropper channel to achieve a positive secrecy rate, which in general cannot be guaranteed in wireless systems. Here, we exploit the non-linear conversion operation in the eavesdropper's receiver to obtain the desired advantage - even when the eavesdropper has perfect access to the transmitted signal at the input to their receiver. The basic idea is to employ an ephemeral cryptographic key to force the eavesdropper to conduct two operations, at least one of which is non-linear, in a different order than the desired recipient. Since non-linear operations are not necessarily commutative, the desired advantage can be obtained and information-theoretic secrecy achieved even if the eavesdropper is given the cryptographic key immediately upon transmission completion. In essence, the lack of knowledge of the key during the short transmission time inhibits the recording of the signal in such a way that the secret information can never be extracted from it. The achievable secrecy rates for different countermeasures that the eavesdropper might employ are evaluated. It is shown that even in the case of an eavesdropper with uniformly better conditions (channel and receiver quality) than the intended recipient, a positive secure rate can be achieved.
Distributed Deterministic Broadcasting in Wireless Networks of Weak Devices under the SINR Model
Venue: arXiv cs.DC 2013
Year: 2013

In this paper we initiate a study of distributed deterministic broadcasting in ad-hoc wireless networks with uniform transmission powers under the SINR model. We design algorithms in two settings: with and without local knowledge about immediate neighborhood. In the former setting, our solution has almost optimal O(Dlog2 n) time cost, where n is the size of a network, D is the eccentricity of the network and {1,...,N} is the set of possible node IDs. In the latter case, we prove an Omega(n log N) lower bound and develop an algorithm matching this formula, where n is the number of network nodes. As one of the conclusions, we derive that the inherited cost of broadcasting techniques in wireless networks is much smaller, by factor around min{n/D,Delta}, than the cost of learning the immediate neighborhood. Finally, we develop a O(D Delta log2 N) algorithm for the setting without local knowledge, where Delta is the upper bound on the degree of the communication graph of a network. This algorithm is close to a lower bound Omega(D Delta).
Local Search is Better than Random Assignment for Bounded Occurrence Ordering k-CSPs
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2013
Year: 2013

We prove that the Bounded Occurrence Ordering k-CSP Problem is not approximation resistant. We give a very simple local search algorithm that always performs better than the random assignment algorithm. Specifically, the expected value of the solution returned by the algorithm is at least Alg > Avg + a(B,k) (Opt - Avg), where "Opt" is the value of the optimal solution; "Avg" is the expected value of the random solution; and a(B,k)=Omega_k(B^{-(k+O(1))} is a parameter depending only on "k" (the arity of the CSP) and "B" (the maximum number of times each variable is used in constraints). The question whether bounded occurrence ordering k-CSPs are approximation resistant was raised by Guruswami and Zhou (APPROX 2012) who recently showed that bounded occurrence 3-CSPs and "monotone" k-CSPs admit a non-trivial approximation.
Partiality and Recursion in Higher-order Logic
Venue: arXiv cs.LO 2013
Year: 2013

We present an illative system I_s of classical higher-order logic with subtyping and basic inductive types. The system I_s allows for direct definitions of partial and general recursive functions, and provides means for handling functions whose termination has not been proven. We give examples of how properties of some recursive functions may be established in our system. In a technical appendix to the paper we prove consistency of I_s. The proof is by model construction. We then use this construction to show conservativity of I_s over classical first-order logic. Conservativity over higher-order logic is conjectured, but not proven.